Iceland Weighs EU Membership Amid Trump's Greenland Gambit

Iceland is holding a referendum on whether to restart talks about joining the European Union. The vote comes after US President Donald Trump's comments about Greenland, which some Icelanders see as a threat to their sovereignty.

Hulda Thorisdottir, a political science professor at the University of Iceland, said that the debate is largely about sovereignty. 'We can't really trust the US anymore,' she quoted Hildur Knutsdottir, a horror fiction writer who plans to vote in favour of EU membership.

The EU proponents see joining as a way to insulate themselves from geopolitical instability and gain economic benefits such as the more stable euro currency and lower interest rates and inflation. They argue that being outside the EU makes Iceland vulnerable, which threatens its sovereignty.

Oponents, however, believe that Iceland enjoys all the benefits of European integration with no drawbacks. They think that joining the EU would be a surrender of their independence and the ability to make their own laws.